


In-Seine

by MalcolmReynolds



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akuma Attack, Bets & Wagers, F/M, Fluff, The Seine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalcolmReynolds/pseuds/MalcolmReynolds
Summary: A bet gone wrong, an akuma attack, and a girlfriend who can bench press him. Kim is living the dream.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Lê Chiến Kim
Comments: 15
Kudos: 273
Collections: THEME:  Seine





	In-Seine

“Not only do I think you can’t swim across in under a minute, but I also bet I can swim it faster than you.” Alix taunted Kim. 

“No, you can’t! I can easily outswim you!” Kim retorted, hands on his hips.

Everyone else in the class was used to these ridiculous bets. They’d calmed down since Kim had started dating Marinette, as she was able to talk him out of some of his more ludicrous wagers, but that involved her being present when the bets were being made, and, as usual, Marinette was running late for class. 

"Bet you can't!" crowed Alix.

"You're on!" cried Kim. "Tomorrow morning. 9 am." 

Everyone groaned. This was not the way that they wanted to spend their Saturday morning, but they all knew they wouldn't miss it. 

Just then the door crashed open, and Marinette slid in, beating the bell by seconds. Since their teacher hadn't arrived yet, she dropped her bag and threw her arms around Kim. A closer inspection of his expression had her sighing. "And what have you agreed to now?"

There were a few snickers from around the room and the grin slid from his face. A quick glance at Alix told him that if he didn't speak up, she would rat him out.

"A swimming challenge." His smile wavered, and he couldn't quite meet Marinette's eyes. 

She cupped his face with her hands forcing him to meet her eyes. He tried to kiss her, avoiding the subject, however, her hands gently, but firmly, held him in place. "And what is the rest of the story?"

“I have to swim across the Seine in less than a minute… AND beat Alix.”

“NO!”

Kim frowned down at Marinette. “What do you mean, no?”

Sighing, Marinette slid her hands from his cheeks down to his shoulders. “I mean, no, you’d be an absolute idiot to go swimming in the Seine. It stinks. I will not support you in this.”

A hurt look crossed Kim’s face, followed by that adorable, stubborn look that she knew meant bad news for her. “I’m sorry, Babe. I promised. I can’t go back on my promise.”

Marinette turned to Alix, pleading with her. “Please, Alix? Let him out of this one?” But Alix just shook her head, although her grin stretched ear to ear and her eyes twinkled mischievously.  
“Oh no. He can’t just rely on you to get him out of his stupider bets. He’s going to have to go through with it, or give up himself.”

At Kim’s outraged cry of “Never!” Marinette sighed, and slipped into her seat just as their teacher walked through the door. 

The next morning saw the class, as well as a few of their other friends, meeting up along the banks of the Seine. Kim, in his swimsuit and cap, shivered at the riverside in the cool morning air. He kept trying to wrap himself around Marinette for warmth, but every time his bare chest came in contact with her face, she would squeak and pull away, her face flaming bright red. It took him a couple of times to figure out why she kept pulling away, but once he realized, Kim started chasing her around, until they were both giggling, and she was touching his skin without thinking. 

Alix, being the more sensible of the two, had her bathing suit covered by a hoodie, and stood in sandals while Kim was chasing Marinette barefoot. She shook her head at her friends, teasing Kim as he ran. “Keep it up! You’re going to be too tired to swim by the time we get to the water!”

The others laughed, while Kim pretended to pout, but Markov appeared from Max’s bag, announcing that the time was now 9:00, and the race could begin. The group moved down towards the edge of the river, where Alix stripped off her hoodie to reveal a suit the same color as her hair, dropping the hoodie, and her sandals, off to the side. Pulling goggles down over her eyes, she looked at Kim, who did the same. Max stood to the side, holding up a stopwatch, ready to count them off into the water. 

Taking one last opportunity, Marinette called out that it wasn’t too late to reconsider, but Kim just shook his head, walking back and asking for a good luck kiss. Unable to refuse him, Marinette just shook her head, placing one of her hands on his shoulders for balance, rose up on her toes to give him a soft kiss. When Alix asked for one “just to be fair” Marinette blushed rosily and told them if they were going to be idiots, to get on with it already. Then, reconsidering, walked over and dropped a kiss on the top of the shorter girl’s head, to the cheers and catcalls of their friends. 

Alix turned bright red, not expecting Marinette’s reaction, and she and Kim trudged back to the edge of the river, where there was a three-foot drop into the water, but a sandy bank on the other side that made for an easy exodus. Half the class rushed over the nearby bridge to the other side, so they could be there when the victor emerged from the water, while Max and Markov readied themselves to time once more. 

Max counted them down from five, but when he got to one, Kim was the only one who hit the water. Alix stepped back from the edge, and with a shrug to Marinette, broke into a huge grin. “You’re right. I’m not going in there. It’s gross.”

There were a few snorts of laughter from those still on the near bank and an eye roll from Marinette before she turned to cheer for her boyfriend, who was currently pouring every ounce of strength he had into the race, oblivious to the fact that he was alone in the water. 

Kim was about two-thirds of the way across the river when the water around him started to roil. Looking around, his concentration finally broken, Kim realized he couldn’t see Alix and screamed her name. His cry was cut off, however, as he was dragged underwater by a person dressed like Aquaman, only with seaweed hair and black streaks staining his face. 

Swiftly, the pair disappeared from sight to a few horrified gasps, and more people than just Marinette screamed Kim’s name. The akuma reemerged, demanding that people treat the Seine with respect for the wildlife that inhabits the river. As the akuma, Pisces, lamented the pollution and the people that used the river for recreation, completely disregarding the fish that made their homes below the surface, Marinette slipped away from the crowd, not noticing that on the opposite bank, Adrien was trying to do the same. 

Aqua Ladybug swung over the heads of the remnants of the class, most of whom had scattered the moment the akuma appeared, diving into the river. As Ladybug disappeared headfirst below the surface, Alya noted that she appeared to have pink flippers on her feet as she kicked them to help her propel herself after Kim. 

Chat appeared on the scene moments after Ladybug disappeared below the now-still surface, the only disturbance made by the wind, rather than humans. His feet and tail were encased in green fins, and he stood on the bridge that spanned the river assessing the situation. Someone shouted that they hadn’t seen the akuma since Ladybug had disappeared below the surface and that one of their classmates had been taken by Pisces. 

Smiling to himself at having to rescue Kim from yet another water akuma, Chat Noir followed his partner beneath the waves. The kingdom he encountered down there was unlike anything he had ever seen. The Seine was normally home to rather plain-looking fish like eels, catfish, and pike, but now, the river was chock full of fish of every color of the rainbow, turning the world below the waves into a tropical paradise. 

Catching a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, he turned, expecting to see Ladybug, instead, a giant redfish with a huge black fantail swum lazily past. A burst of pink light and an explosion of red bubbles had him swimming that direction, recognizing Ladybug’s call for her Lucky Charm. 

Darting closer, he saw Kim, trussed up in seaweed, and thrust into a treasure chest that looked like it had been liberated from a pirate ship. Ladybug was looking around to see how to use her Lucky Charm. Her eyes fell on him but only gave him the barest acknowledgment, not alerting the akuma to his presence. 

Her eyes lit with a plan, and she slowly winked, and then stared overlong at an arch-like outcropping of the coral reef that was directly behind Pisces. Chat nodded his assent that he understood his role, and waited for her signal. 

Pulling the trigger on the can of compressed air, the explosion of bubbles caused Pisces to take two steps forward. Being at a slight angle helped Chat see around the rapidly forming curtain to register Ladybug’s nod. He swam forward, calling for Cataclysm, and touching the base of the coral outcropping, causing it to fall and trap the akuma in its circle, and forcing Pisces to drop the trident he held. 

Diving deeper, Ladybug snatched it up, breaking it over her knee with a triumphant cry. She purified the butterfly and swam to the trunk where Kim lay, motionless. Scooping him up in her arms, she kicked off hard and rocketed to the surface. Chat followed, carrying the akuma victim. They lay the two civilians down on the beach area, both still, until a cry of “Miraculous Ladybug!” and an explosion of red beetles had the pair coughing and struggling upright. 

Ladybug smiled at everyone, but a chirp from her earring had her swinging away into the morning sun. A few minutes later, Marinette came pounding across the bridge, flinging herself into Kim’s arms. “You idiot!” Are you alright? What were you thinking?” 

As he was still seated on the ground, the small, but powerful, bundle of Marinette knocked him sprawling as she peppered him with questions and kisses, completely oblivious to the fact that the dampness from his towel-wrapped body was soaking into her clothes. 

He smiled at her, fondly, tucking her escaping hair back behind her ear as he struggled into a sitting position, keeping Marinette firmly tucked into his lap. “I’m fine! It’ll take more than an akuma to slow me down.” His voice dropped, and his face softened as he reached out to gently cup Marinette’s face. Tracing her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb he leaned forward and whispered softly to her, “Did I beat Alix?”

Marinette groaned, dropping her forehead against his. “She wasn’t stupid enough to jump in the water. You were the only one in the race.”

“So I won!”

Sighing, Marinette was close to admitting that, by default, he did, indeed, win, when a voice came over her shoulder. 

“You did win, Kim.” Admitted Adrien. “But that’s because you’re the only one who was in-Seine enough to try it!”

The class groaned, and a few muffled snorts of laughter. Marinette dropped a kiss on the tip of Kim’s nose. “You still up for our gym date this afternoon?”

“You still gonna feed me afterward?” He replied with a grin.

“Of course!”

“Then we’re still on!”

She laughed, then stood, extending her hand to pull him up, only then realizing how chilly the morning air really was in damp clothes. She waved to everyone as she headed home to change. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kim adored going to the gym with Marinette. If you’d asked him a year ago, he’d never have thought that his girlfriend being able to bench-press him would be a turn on, but, he admitted to himself, year-ago Kim was so very wrong. 

Competition flowed through his veins, and Kim liked to be the best at everything, he could freely admit that. However, when it came to Marinette, he found that he didn’t mind losing to her. Especially when it came to stretching. She was much more flexible than he was, and that didn’t bother him at all. Sometimes it was a struggle not to leer at her, but the rest of the time he marveled at her ability to be both the most graceful and the clumsiest person he’d ever met. 

He could outrun her (barely) and out-lift her, but he was fairly certain the latter was because he was twice her size. They were currently on side-by-side treadmills, keeping the pace easy as he looked forward to the calisthenics they’d soon be doing. Kissing Marinette at the top of each sit-up. Or at the bottom of each push-up. Although he liked the challenge of doing a pushup with her sitting on his back. 

Her gentle laugh pulled him out of his fantasy. “What are you thinking about?”

Blushing to the roots of his hair, he quickly changed the subject. “Bet I can do more pushups than you.”

“Haven’t you learned your lesson on making bets today?” She asked him, one eyebrow quirked, but a soft smile still on her face.  
Rolling his eyes, he huffed out a breath, shooting a devil-may-care grin over at her. Even with all her hair piled up in a ponytail and dripping with sweat, Marinette was beautiful. He had no idea why she was dating him, but he wasn’t about to ask her, giving her ideas that she could do better. 

When their workout was over, sadly, without the calisthenic kissing he’d been fantasizing about, they headed to the showers. Kim took a little extra care getting ready and smiled at Marinette when he saw that she’d left her slightly damp hair down, making her eyes appear even larger and bluer than normal. 

Tossing an arm around her, and carrying both of their gym bags, Kim walked Marinette back to her house, where she fixed them a quick lunch, and they curled up together on the couch to watch a movie. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her, laying his cheek on the top of her head. He dropped a kiss on her unbound hair, ignoring how it tickled his nose, as he breathed in the scent of her, smiling to himself as he reveled in the feel of his girlfriend, warm in his arms.


End file.
